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Hand Grinder Suggestions, Please

I'm new to welding. I'm taking a MIG class and need to purchase an electric hand grinder. I like Milwaukee Electric's line of grinders and was set to buy its 13 AMP model, but it's too heavy for me. Milwaukee has a number of lighter weight grinders, but they have lower amperage. What amperage is adequate? There's an 8.5 AMP model. Do you think that's sufficient? Thanks.

welcome aboard

if you are talking home use, an 8.5 will be fine. i have 2 portacables that are 6.5amp i think and i have had then for several years now. i think any thing above 6 amps should be fine for home use. more important after you get over 6 amps is going to be feel and whats comfortable to you to use. quality is also important. the millwwauki brand is good quality, only disslike seems to be the cord, but thats an easy fix if you have problems with it. i also have 2 of the cheepo wallmart black and deckers not werth the $30 realy save up another $20 and get the green version if you have to go that way.the cheaper B&D's last about 6 months then the screws start falling out of the head and its all down hill from there. but the green pro grade ones have gotten good reviews. i also just tonight got a craftsmen 7amp version. time will tell if it holds up but it looks solid and 7 amps will be plenty for home shop use. if its for a work truck and daily use for the job you might want more.
the dewalts have a good reputation also i would have loved one of them but just didnt have the $$ if i dont like the craftsmen i'll return it for a dewalt later when i have the extra $$.the rigid brand is also getting good reviews as a discount version of the metabo. so if its in your price range and you like the feel it would suit your needs also.
some have paddle wsitches and others locking slid switches, so think about that also when choseing. best to get one thats going to feel comfortable to use.
lots of guys have several as its easyer and faster to switch out grinders then to mess around changing atachments every time you go fron a grinding disk to a flap wheel then again when you want a whire wheel.i'm up to 5 now but one of my B&D's just lost another screw from the head tonight so its soon to bite the dust. the first pic is the new craftsmen 7 amp, 2nd pic is my other 4 on my tool hanger.
welding becomes an adiction and along with it you start collecting more tool to play with.

short anser is the 8.5 will be fine for home use, and might last a wile in dayly shop use but most of the working welders realy use them hard so prefer a bigger amp to be able to realy bear down on it.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

which grinder

Like these other guys I've got two Dewalts, both of them are quite a few years old and have never had a problem with them. That is until the other day, I can hear the gear in one of the heads is on it's way out, already called and ordered the parts, 23.00 for the new gears and should get another couple of few years out of them. Dave

fun4now, is that a dewalt saws-all I see in the background, The one that looks like it is fitted with a 45 degree miter blade in it.LOL...

Last edited by dabar39; 06-18-2007 at 06:56 AM.
Reason: added text

If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!

I also have the Dwalt and love it.....I'll have to disagree with James about the B&D's @ walmart......if you look at the older dewalt and the walmart B&D they are the same.....I'm sure there are some differences ,but I have had mine for 6 plus yrs and have had zero problems from it. I tried to stall it when I got my Dewalt just to see what it would do.....it just laughed at me.
Mike

George W. Bush was saving your butt whether you liked it or not!
Fear is temporary, regret is forever
HH210 with SG

grinders

84ZMike, I also have two cheap-o grinders, that I use with wire wheels and such. I bought one b&d at wally world, burnt it up with in twenty minutes and had to replace it. The replacement one has lasted about six months and the gears in the head are already starting to strip out. I bought them mainly for extras in the shop and when I've got helpers doing stuff for me, don't want them using my good stuff. Dave

If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!

84ZMike
i'm glad to here you are getting good use out of your B&D's. i supose mialage may verry but i have been using them for about 5 years now and none have made it more than about 6 months wit anything other than light use with a flap wheel. the only reason i still have them is wally world cept exchanging them for me when they quit at no charge, been threw about 8 or 9 of them. all with simmiler results. just because dewalt makes them it dose not make them a dewalt (wish it did) but the lil 4.5amp B&D's just dont hold up. look at the metabows & riged brand. the rigid is made by metabow but with lower quality bearings and such. B&D has changed its look so soon i will be without B&D grinders and i'm ok with that i'll work in new ones of higher quality as they go this time. with a lil luck my new craftsmen will pass the test of time. the B&D profesional series is likely more along the lines of a true dewalt if any are. the pro series are getting good reviews and are 6 amps i think, they look similer to the craftsmen i got so perhaps they are the same in a diferent collor plastic??? like i said i'm glad they work for you but i personaly would not recomend them, we are all intiteled to our opinion as MMV from user to user.
dabar39
yes thats my dewalt corner cutting sawsall. dont you have one for corners?? i am verry hapy with all my dewalts and would recomend them to any one. i have 2 cordless drills, one corder drill, a jig saw, a bench grinder, a swasall, a bisquet joiner,a 7" circular saw, and a sliding compound miter saw, they are all running great and well werth the $$ i spent on them. if we had had a lil more $$ on the sear's card i would have gotten a dewalt insted of the craftsmen but the $ just wasent there. i have never had a problem with any of my dewalts, millwaukie's, or portacables. all three of those brands have held up great for me and i would happily replace any of them with the same should they die tomarow. i have more than gotten my $$ werth out of them all even the $600 sliding compound miter saw, i love that babby.
its always best o buy a quality tool once insted of a low quality tool several times. even though all my B&D's were replaced every time they broke if you add up the gas to return them all those times pluse the time out of myday to do so, they have caust me much more than the 2 portacables i got several years ago that have never given me any truble.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

quick update

update or corection, the porta cables are 7.6amps not 6.5 amps as earlyer noted. eather way they are excelent grinders that have served me well. after the 4 years of use with no maitenence i think its time i open it up and maybee add some grese to the gears in the head. this should probly have been done earlyer but i just never think of it when i have the time to do so. we tend to never think about tools that are working well, so it seems the beter tools tend to get the least amount of service.

also the dewalt sawsall blade is actualy strait, i used it tonight as a matter of fact. it just looks like its bent because of the white paint at the end and the rest being without it from use. thats not to say i dont have a few bent ones around.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES